Flaws and All
by Tarafina
Summary: "Finn… You may be the prince of someone's story, but it isn't mine…" PxR


**Title**: Flaws and All  
**Category**: Glee  
**Genre**: Romance/Drama  
**Ship**: Rachel/Puck, Finn  
**Rating**: Teen  
**Prompt**: Summer (Rachel): I woke up one morning and I just knew.  
Tom(Finn): Knew what?  
Summer(Rachel): What I was never sure of with you.. - puckrachel drabble meme  
**Word Count**: 1,588  
**Summary**: "Finn… You may be the prince of someone's story, but it isn't mine…"

**_Flaws and All_**  
-1/1-

"I don't get it."

She glances at him and she honestly feels bad, because he looks lost and maybe a little hurt. Some part of her, the part that recognizes him as her first love, wants to comfort him, to make this better. But the truth is, what he wants and what she wants are very different things. Or, if she was being more honest and to the point, _who _they want is very different. "I'm not sure you have to," she replies, instead.

He frowns at her. "I want to… I-I want to understand. I just—" He blows out a long, irritated breath. "Why _him? _Of everybody. I mean, after Quinn and—"

"This isn't about Quinn," she interrupts, feeling anger build up in her chest. "It's not about Quinn or the baby or Santana or even about _you_… It's about me." He opens his mouth and she throws up a hand. "No. No, I realize, and I have for awhile now, that I can be selfish or self-involved. Maybe that stems from the fact that I've never really _had _to think of others, because none of them were thinking of me… I've had so few friends that even those that pick on me and berate me are people I consider good enough to accept as the closest thing I will ever have to long lasting, soul bearing friendships…" She wrings her hands and stands up, wanting (needing) to pace now. "I grew up with my two dads who wanted only the best for me, who told me I would be and I _could _be the best… and when I told others these things, when I dared to try and share this with them, they _mocked _me. They tore me down and they stomped all over my dreams. But I held strong!" She lifts a finger into the air. "I _still _hold strong!" She turns and stares at him. "I _will _make something of myself, Finn. Even if I never make it to Broadway, I will make it _somewhere_… And everybody who doubted me, everybody who pretended they didn't know me or looked over their shoulder in fear that somebody might see them speaking to me in a manner that might imply friendship, they will all choke on their doubt." She lifts her nose into the air. "So maybe I _am _selfish, maybe I _am_ only thinking of myself, but I deserve to. In this, when it comes to me and him, I get to think about _my _feelings and _my _heart and I don't need you telling me that I'm wrong." She stares at him seriously. "Because I'm _not_. Not about this. Not about _him_."

He frowns, hands hanging useless in his lap. "I thought it was supposed to me and you…" He tries to smile and he fails.

"So did I," she admits. "Once upon a time… When I was young and foolish and I listened to a heart that had never really loved before… A heart that had high hopes that you would be everything my imagination built you up to be. But Finn…" She shook her head. "You may be the prince of someone's story, but it isn't mine…"

"And he is?" he scoffs.

"Yes…" She smiles. "He is uncouth and rude and lacks a general sense of nobility, but he's also sweet and funny and when he looks at me, he sees _me_… It's not animal sweaters or slushees or the giant L that has imprinted itself on my forehead… It's my crazy and my dreams and all of my flaws and my good qualities… He might not care about my love for Babs or what my Tony speech will sound like, but he cares that _I _care. He cares enough to want for me what I want… He cares enough not to tell me to be normal or to act less weird, he just lets me be who I am…" She stares at him searchingly. "And I'm not saying that you were a bad boyfriend or that I didn't make any mistakes where our relationship was concerned, but… What I have with him is different and it's special and even though I know it might hurt you, I need you to realize that I won't let it go."

"Why?"

She sighs, takes a seat next to him and lets her shoulders fall a little. "I woke up one morning and I just _knew._"

His brow furrowed. "Knew what?"

"What I was never sure of with you."

He stares at her, needing an explanation.

"He loves me, Finn…" she says it softly, like she can't believe it herself. "He loves me and he's willing to do whatever it takes to keep that feeling, to make sure I _return _that feeling."

"Rachel, I loved you. I—"

"He's _in love _with everything about me… _Even _the things I don't like about myself; flaws and all…" Her eyes widen and tears fill them. "I always thought Mr. Shuester was just trying to get me to stop crying, but now I _know_… When you and I were together, you loved me _in spite _of my many flaws. You _put up _with those things that you didn't like about me. And that-that's _fine_, I… I can't _make _you accept those things about me, make you _love _those things. I-I didn't even know if it was wrong or not. But…" She sniffles. "With Noah, it's not about putting up with those things just to be with me… It's about knowing that those things are apart of me and loving them too." She shakes her head. "So maybe you didn't like that I was crazy or neurotic, but he finds it part of my charm…" She grins widely.

He glares, angry now. Jumping from his chair, he throws out at his arms wonderingly. "And when he breaks your heart?"

"If," she corrects. "_If _he breaks my heart, then okay… Okay, it's going to _hurt_… It's going to hurt worse than anything else. Because as much as he loves me, I love him…" She looks up at him seriously, _firmly_. "I really, truly love him… I love when he calls himself a badass and flexes his arms for proof or when he calls me his Crazy Broadway Ninja. I love when he sings for me or when he plays with my hair or when he kisses me to make me stop talking. I love that he loves his mom and his sister and that he's not scared or uncomfortable around my dads. I love his smirk and his Mohawk and his filthy texts and the way he tells me all the things he wants to do to me, but he's content with an afternoon of cuddling. I love…" She breaths a sigh of content. "I love Noah and I love Puck and I love who he is regardless of who's around or what's happening or whether or not he's the most popular boy in the school…" Softly, she nods. "So _if _he breaks my heart, at least he had it for awhile… At least I had _his _for awhile…"

Finn's quiet, his hands find their way into his pockets and he just stands there a long moment. But finally, when he looks at her, he nods. "So… _If _he breaks your heart… I'll kick his ass, okay?"

She grins brightly, ducking her head. "While I find violence reprehensible and don't condone it in the least… _Thank you_."

"Maybe…" Awkwardly, he looks away and then back. "Maybe you're right, y'know? Maybe I'm not your prince and maybe Puck is, I don't— I don't know. But… I wanna be your friend."

Her head bobs quickly and excitedly. "Yes! Of course! I would really like that."

"Good…" He grins. "Cool."

"Babe?"

They turn then and see Puck standing in the doorway.

"Hey," she replies, smiling up at him, her whole demeanor softening.

And Finn watches, as she walks slowly toward him and lifts up on the tips of her toes. And he watches as Puck melts away and Noah appears, with a smile (not a smirk), taking her hips into his hands and leaning forward to meet her kiss before he rests his forehead against hers and just stares a second, like he needs this moment to remind himself that he really got the girl and she's really there in his arms. He draws back and nods his head then. "Com'on, ma's already called twice. Says you promised to give her your sugar cookies recipe?" He cocks a brow at her wonderingly.

"Oh yes! We have to stop at my place then." She taps her chin thoughtfully. "I completely forgot I'd promised Aviva that we would make a few dozen cookies for the temple bake sale." She tugs her rolling backpack along, smiling when he takes it from her and slings an arm around her waist, nodding for her to continue talking. And she does, a lot, on a variety of subjects.

Finn watches as Rachel and Noah walk away with a pink trolley hanging from McKinley's resident BAMF's hand, that same badass holding tight to a girl wearing a shirt covered in ducks and knee socks with stars on them. And he thinks maybe Puck's not really prince material, not by any usual standard, at least not for anybody _except_ Rachel Berry. They kind of, in a weird way, make perfect sense. Maybe it's not _his _happily ever after, but at least they got theirs. He's man enough to be okay with that.

[**End.**]


End file.
